thomasholmphoto

Black Lingerie & Black Friday Sale

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends.

I've just launched a massive Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale on SHOP.COMMANDOART.COM

I'm not going to go over everything here, but I would like to mention my online tutorials:

• ArtNude on location using Natural light
• Studio lighting with one lamp
• Post-production
• Composition
• Live-streamed work...
  2023-11-23 08:37:33 +0000 UTC View Post

Starring Starr

Faith Starr Official is a Star, and I loved shooting with her.
These were shot “two studios ago,” if you know what I mean. All natural light, sunshine straight in through a window.

I can tell you that I have made many people living in apartments opposite the studio happy and entertained.
One lady even popped over one day, knocked on the door, and asked if we realized they could see the models naked. She didn’t mind. She just wanted to tell us if we didn’t know.
Very ...

Under the bridge BTS

15 min BTS movie with Kelsey shooting the image that just dropped.

Life under the bridge

Kelsey Wolfe is contemplating life at a small creek in Yorkshire.

I went to visit Kelsey, and we walked up a hill in her backyard and came upon an abundance of locations.

If you shoot with models, don’t forget to ask if they know any locations nearby where they live. Remember, they have likely shot with other photographers, so possibly they know some cool places you’d never find yourself.

A little tip: If I shoot near still water, I frequently try to shoot at a really lo...

Vauntastic in Death Valley - 100 images

Nicole Vaunt asked if we could do a sexy set for her OF account.

It was midday and probably 50C/122F outside, so anything inside with the AC on seemed like a good idea.

Here is a link to that set's full gallery of usable images. I shot about 250 all in all, but many are similar, just with modified expressions, closed eyes etc. So this is my initial selection/first cull of usable images.

The light is from the window softened a tiny bit by a ceiling lamp.

Sonyasticated in Sweden

Like Sienna from Yesterday's post, Sonyasticated from Singapore was in Denmark in '17, so I promptly exported her to Sweden to Hovs Haller, a fantastic location for shoots.
I love her pale skin juxtaposed against the rocks here.

The first image was shot pre-dawn with my Canon 50mm ƒ0.95 at full aperture. 

It's not very good at full figure on full aperture; you'd need to stop down to ƒ1.2-1.4 to get the edges of the frame in focus. 

The others were shot wi...

Boss of the Pulpit

Back in ’17, Sienna Hayes came to Denmark, and we went down to a derelict church to shoot these.

Or rather, we popped by after the “real shoot” on a limestone beach/quarry. Mainly because I figured out that the light for the doorway did not work when we were around the first time early in the morning.

Funny aside: Sienna hid under the Pulpit for about 20 minutes:

When she got up there, several tourist buses arrived and unloaded an ungodly (pun intended) number of peopl...

Oh, Simone

A single catch-up image with the amazing Simone Friis. 

Direct light from a Fresnel spot.
A dead giveaway of using a Fresnel is the gradual fall-off of the light. There is no edge or border, just a gliding transition from light to shadow.

Pretzelle Upside down (as usual)

The bendy Pretzelle is working her body magic in the studio.

Lighting is a 57” Zeppelin to create a backlit scenario so I could highlight her muscles.

For the image with the face down, I placed a large white reflector directly in front of her legs to give a bit more light to the face. 

You can see this in the BTS video.

Myntes Balcony

The ever-magic Mynte model on a small balcony.

I discovered the shadows, creating a sharp geometric pattern that perfectly framed Mynte’s voluptuous curves: straight sunlight and a slight reflection from a window on some of them.

And as always, when I work in hard light, I try to make the shadows part of my composition.

Baños Arabes BTS

15 min BTS movie from shooting at the ancient bath. As you can see there are "innocent bystanders" walking past now and then, and the models gat dressed/undressed a few times during the session.

Baños Arabes

The trio The Endless Sinner, Lou Lou models, and Wiana model in the Arab baths in Mallorca. This place is a privately owned museum, and the ancient baths have three access points. If you look at the sketch you can see there is a corridor going in and behind the main room, where people can approach from.

When we first arrived there was a massive group going in but eventually, the crowd thinned out, and we had around 15 minutes to shoot everything - as you can see on the BTS video.

...

Overlooking the garment district

Vixen Victoria Allyse in one of FD Photo studios in the Garment District in LA.

If you ever find yourself in LA (or New York or Chicago) and need a photo studio with some cool interior, check out their homepage: https://www.fdphotostudio.com/

They have super cool places like the one I shot Victoria in.

But even if you are thinking about what sets to make for your studio, their website is super inspiration...

Kylie on the rocks

More daylight here as the days are getting shorter on the northern hemisphere:

This is Kylie LeBeau from a canyon in Nevada. I’m totally in love with the first one, but the second one also creeps up on me, but it’s not quite right in the edit. But I can’t figure out what to do to make it better. 

Any ideas?

Shasta in Sweden

About seven years ago, I persuaded Shasta Wonder to go on a little excursion to Sweden, where we shot a lot of pictures.

I’ve published most of them over time, but these somehow never made it.

I quite like all three of them, but I have a favorite.
Which of them do you like best, and why?

Here is a reminder btw: I tag all my images with model names so if you would like to see more of the images I've shot with Shasta, just click the Shasta tag next to this post, or type ...

Madam Sophie in the studio.

Sophie felt like making some fashion stuff and brought boots and sunglasses.
I complimented this by using a window with white blinds that I could use to reflect the sun. 

So what's happening here is the horizontal breams of the Venetian blind (white metal) are reflecting the sun. 

The window is about 1m/3' wide and about 1,7m/5' high.

Then, I set up two V_flats to restrict the light, only to hit Sophie to create the "field of light."

If you look closely a...

Stool Pigeon

A couple of shots of my friend Lilith Etch doing her thing on a small folding chair.

I lit this with my 57” Zeppelin deep umbrella with a diffuser mounted in front. This time I placed the lamp slightly behind the wall to her right, to minimize how much light would hit both that wall and the back wall.

Krisowitz on white

Day seven straight, of only using daylight.
The amazing Krisowitz shot on some rolled up and shrink-wrapped Hay-bales stored near the runway near my studio. 

You’ll see more of those in a couple of other shots.
The quality of the light here is the afterglow just after the sun set, but with clouds on the sku to reflect some of the light. It's super soft yet still directional.

Depani in rags

The amazing Swedish (with Srilankan origins) Depani Malika in a derelict control tower near my studio.

Again, I’m just utilizing daylight here.

Learning to utilize daylight is one of the most important skills you can have as a model photographer. It means you can shoot almost anywhere you can get access to, and still get great results when you learn how light works.

Not to blow my own horn, BUT that is why I produced 2023-11-06 15:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post

Gitte on the vintage sofa

G Rasmussen model who resurfaced after 6-7 years of doing corporate stuff. 

This is one of the first sets I shot in my new studio environment (and a €100 vintage sofa). At that price, it was a steal, and it has already served its purpose and backed many awesome shoots.

Again, daylight through the windows (like with Minka on the post two days ago), with the difference that it was more overcast this time.

Gitte on vintage sofa BTS

33 beautiful minutes of Gitte on my New/vintage studio sofa.

On the railing

A nice little situation shot at the spur of the moment in Scotland during the first shoot together between Wiana and The Endless Sinner. I set it up to have a slight powerplay dynamic, and the models (as always) were happy to comply.

Minka and the bridge

Minka model doing a bridge and doing it very well:

The light on this is direct sunlight streaming through my two studio windows. But modulated by placing some Lee Opal filter in front so it gets slightly diffused.

I have been thinking about doing this in the studio a couple of times as the center sprocket between the windows is a bit wide and casts a large (too large) shadow if the sun is brutal. This was the first time I tried it, and it worked a treat.

You can see further ...

Belzen on Black leather

I adore using daylight, and this is daylight from two regular-size windows in my studio. They are all shots using backlight (light coming from the far side of the model). This way of lighting models normally gives the maximum amount of shape on the body, and this is no exception—belzen model.

Framed

When shooting the Art-nude on Location course with Wiana Model, I suddenly thought of shooting her in the mirror from between her legs, using her legs as a framing. In reality, you can’t see anything, but it does add a sexy connotation (in my head, at least).

Luckily, Wiana is very open-minded and knows me well enough to know that if I ...

Depani On Concrete

I’m afraid you’ll have to live with one more shot from the F16 bunkers.

But since it is with Danika Malika, I hope you will forgive me.😁

Lighting is daylight, on/off cloudy/sunny, but these were primarily shot in direct sun. However, when there are a lot of clouds in the sky, all the shadows are softened a bit because the light is reflected from all the sources. White reflects a lot more than blue skies.

Krisowitz on green

An excellent set of Krisowitz in my new studio corner.
The sofa is also an FB marketplace find (at €90).
With prices like that make it possible to exchange props a bit more often…

It’s all-natural light from the two windows to the right of the set, and I’m using a couple of Large styrofoam boards on the left side to remove much of the reflecting from the shadow side.
And I say much because the entire ceiling reflects the ambient window light, which is OK.
I didn�...

November on my Patreon

Hey, hey, everyone.

I am gearing up for another fabulous month with Wianamodel, Belzen, Minka Model, Endless Sinner, and Wiana in a cheeky shot, G. Rasmussen model, the Volouptois Depani Malika, And Krisowitz after dark.

Then we continue with Lilith Etch, Madam Sophie, A bit of Shibari, And Shasta Wonder (and she is a natural wonder).

We are moving on with Kylie LeBeau, Victoria Allyse, And an incredible group shoot with Loulou Models, Wiana, and the ever-present Endless Sin...

Bunker Sin with The Endless Sinner

This is from a workshop this spring.
On the airbase where my studio is, there are a lot of great locations, this door among others.

It’s built as blast-proof, so the entryway turns 90 degrees, as if the light is hitting my right ear and nothing is reaching the model - you can't even see the color once you go in there.

As you likely know, light always travels in straight lines, except in the presence of a black hole.

However, if you place a sizable silver reflector in...

Rub-a-dub with Tania

A small set with Tania Aresti from a trip to the Lake District in the UK.

This was a case of a cold model who was very appreciative of us making a set out of a warm bathtub, so she had an excellent reason for frolicking there for an hour or so ;)

Well deserved, though. The light is natural from the window behind the tub but reflected off the ceiling and white walls.